Bright blokes go for smart over sassy

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MEN in search of true happiness should steer clear of bimbos and
dumb blondes: research shows men are happiest if they marry smart
women.

Every extra year of education a wife has under her belt
significantly increases the chances her husband will report being
highly satisfied with life. But Shane Mathew Worner, of the
Australian National University's economics program, says it may be
that an educated woman's earning power is her biggest asset.

In a paper to be presented at the HILDA Survey Research
conference this week, he says "the higher the education level of
the wife, the happier the husband is."

The study is based on a sample of more than 5000 Australians
drawn from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia
survey.

The survey brings together a wealth of data on individuals and
enables researchers to track people's changing life fortunes over
years.

Mr Worner's research shows married men and women on average are
happier than single people and cohabiting couples, although
happiness declines a bit in the years after marriage.

Asked to quantify what marriage is worth, men say they would
have to earn an extra $136,000 a year as a single to achieve the
same level of life satisfaction, and women say they would need an
extra $122,000. When asked to rate their life satisfaction on a
scale from zero to 10, almost 90 per cent of the legally married
reported a reasonably high level of happiness, a score of 7-10,
compared with about 69 per cent of cohabiting females and 64 per
cent of cohabiting males.

The research shows marriage provides a much bigger happiness
dividend for men than women. Married men are 135 per cent more
likely than their single counterparts to report feeling highly
satisfied with life.

A married woman on average is only only 52 per cent more likely
than a single to report feeling highly satisfied with life.

But that is because women generally are happier than men, with
wives on average reporting higher levels of life satisfaction than
husbands, the study shows.

"For a male, being married does not make it more likely that you
will experience a high level of life satisfaction, but marriage
will make you significantly happier," Mr Worner says.

A married man's chances of achieving a high level of happiness -
above a score of seven - are improved by 8 per cent for every extra
year of education his wife has. But married women's happiness level
is unaffected by their husband's years of schooling.

Women do not care how dumb their husbands are - but they feel
happier if the men are smarter than they are, the study shows.

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